Okay it's no secret that i'm a huge Babalu fan, but when the fight was announced I immediately thought of the Lambert fight, the second Chuck fight and Robbie's fight with Manhoef.

I still thought Babalu would submit Lawler or win a decision by grappling, but the fact that he out- struck Robbie Lawler is hugely impressive. The one fault that everyone sees in Sobral is that he likes to get into sloppy exchanges with counter-punchers, in this fight he used his reach, and slowed Lawler down with kicks to the legs and body. To be honest, his stand-up was good against Whitehead and Sokodjou but at 195 he looked good and cardio wasn't really an issue. I do think a cut to 185 would lead to cardio problems though.

Do you think he should try the 185 cut or move back to 205? The fact he won't fights Mo means he could even get some more catch-weight fights under his belt before deciding.

185 might be doable and with the title now seemingly up for grabs he can get a quick shot at the title if he can get a win at 185 against a guy like hendo or miller.

I would like to see him drop to 185, but he wasn't mentioned in Coker's proposed Middleweight tournament. He trains with Miller so that could be a similar situation to the issue with Babalu and Mo not fighting. He called out Hendo, so that could take place at 185 or 205. Coker seems determined to match Babalu and Mo together despite both saying on numerous occasions that they have no interest in fighting each other.

^i say to heck with a tournament with the guys they currently have set up for it. they are practically giving the title away to hendo. Make him fight a guy with the experience not to eat a right hand and the skill to do more with mount that pillow punches. i dont think strikeforce should be trying to force fights when they still cant get other known hws to sign a fight against one another.

^i say to heck with a tournament with the guys they currently have set up for it. they are practically giving the title away to hendo. Make him fight a guy with the experience not to eat a right hand and the skill to do more with mount that pillow punches. i dont think strikeforce should be trying to force fights when they still cant get other known hws to sign a fight against one another.

I fully agree with everything you say in this post, but I think you could possibly be underestimating Jacare. He has the capabilities to do what Shields did but finish the fight.

I was pulling for Robbie Lawler in this fight.. but you can't count Babalu out of anything... he's a beast.

He finished Cyrilee Diabate, Chael Sonnen and Shogun in their meetings. I want to see him rematch Mousasi. Even though I still think Mousasi would take it I wouldn't be surprised to see Sobral defeat anybody.

__________________''You probably thought this was a bright idea, who hit the light switch? Hype shift, this is where it looks like the fight's fixed, tight fist, beat you with the hand that I write with, punchlines that remind Rodney King of the night sticks...''